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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 - A New You Ministry

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said unto <strong>the</strong>m, It is written, My house shall be called <strong>the</strong> house of prayer; but ye havemade it a den of thieves.” These traffickers might have pleaded as an excuse that <strong>the</strong>articles <strong>the</strong>y held <strong>for</strong> sale were <strong>for</strong> sacrificial offerings. But <strong>the</strong>ir object was to get gain,to obtain means, to accumulate.I was shown that if <strong>the</strong> moral and intellectual faculties had not been clouded bywrong habits of living, ministers and people would have been quick to discern <strong>the</strong> evilresults of mixing sacred and common things. Ministers have stood in <strong>the</strong> desk andpreached a most solemn discourse, and <strong>the</strong>n by introducing merchandise, and acting<strong>the</strong> part of a salesman, even in <strong>the</strong> house of God, <strong>the</strong>y have diverted <strong>the</strong> minds of <strong>the</strong>irhearers from <strong>the</strong> impressions received, and destroyed <strong>the</strong> fruit of <strong>the</strong>ir labor. If <strong>the</strong>sensibilities had not been blunted, <strong>the</strong>y would have had discernment to know that <strong>the</strong>ywere bringing sacred things down upon a level with common. The burden of sellingour publications should not rest upon ministers who labor in word and doctrine. Theirtime and strength should be held in reserve, that <strong>the</strong>ir ef<strong>for</strong>ts may be thorough in aseries of meetings. Their time and strength should not be drawn upon to sell our bookswhen <strong>the</strong>y can be properly brought be<strong>for</strong>e <strong>the</strong> public by those who have not <strong>the</strong> burdenof preaching <strong>the</strong> word. In entering new fields it may be necessary <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> ministerto take publications with him to offer <strong>for</strong> sale to <strong>the</strong> people, and it may be necessaryin some o<strong>the</strong>r circumstances also to sell books and transact business <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> office ofpublication. But such work should be avoided whenever it can be done by o<strong>the</strong>rs.Ministers have all that <strong>the</strong>y ought to do to preach <strong>the</strong> word, and after <strong>the</strong>y haveurged solemn truth upon <strong>the</strong> people <strong>the</strong>y should maintain a humble dignity as <strong>the</strong>preachers of exalted truth and as representatives of <strong>the</strong> truth presented to <strong>the</strong> people.After <strong>the</strong>ir labored ef<strong>for</strong>t <strong>the</strong>y need rest. Even selling books upon present truth is acare, a tax to <strong>the</strong> mind, and a472

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